Minimized

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Made significantly smaller or reduced to the least possible amount or degree
2. Reduced to the smallest possible extent or lessened in impact or significance
3. Taken down to the lowest achievable size or importance while retaining essential qualities

Etymology: "Minimized" is the past tense and past participle of "minimize," so its story is really the story of its root. The base comes from Latin "minimus," meaning "smallest," the superlative of "parvus" (small). English added the suffix "-ize," a verb-forming ending borrowed through Latin and Greek, to turn that adjective into a verb meaning to reduce something to the least possible amount. The verb's earliest sense was literal and practical: to make something as small as possible, in size, quantity or degree. The figurative sense, to lessen the importance or impact of something, grew out of that physical meaning, so that a problem can be "minimized" in the same way a dimension can be shrunk. Its "-ize" form also fits a long line of English verbs built from Greek and Latin roots, such as "modernize" and "realize," which is why it sounds so natural to modern ears.

Synonyms: reduced, diminished, lessened, curtailed, shrunk

Antonyms: maximized, expanded, increased, augmented, amplified